And This Year I am Thankful For....

So it's that time of year again. And just where did the year go? There's so much to be thankful for that I need to get these fingers moving before they move right on out of my brain! We serve a benevolent God who  blesses us over and above what we could ever hope or deserve.

The Summer of 2012 will ever be known as the time when Teller and El Paso Counties in Colorado were devastated by fires. Although Colorado Springs suffered the brunt of the damage, with close to 350 homes destroyed and two lives lost, I am thankful to see the people down there joining forces as a community and rebuilding their lives. I am thankful Woodland Park was spared. Every time Don and I drive  through the burn area my heart breaks all over again. It is then that I am reminded of God's mercy and all the first responders who worked tirelessly to protect us.

I am thankful for a community where people still recognize their neighbors and help one another out. Living in a smaller community once more reminds me of the little town in Arkansas where I grew up. Neighbor helping neighbor, people waving or speaking even though they may or may not know your name. I love the feeling of small town (and in our case, country) living.

I am thankful for my neighbors. I am thankful for doctors who take care of my autoimmune problems. I am thankful for a nice warm and comfortable home, for Facebook where I can connect with people I haven't seen in years, for email that enables me to connect in a moment's notice with my family during a time of trouble.

I am thankful for friends and family. I am doubly blessed and thankful for my wonderful husband, Don, who unselfishly takes care of me. I am thankful that I don't wear that boot anymore, even though I was thankful for it when I broke my foot.

I am thankful for God's love and mercy and how he loves a pathetic old creature like me.

I could go on and on, but you get it. I have a thankful heart this year. The heaviness of last year has passed; Don and I are picking up the pieces and moving on and we are thankful for the opportunity to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Hazel

P.S. I am also thankful for all my "deer" friends. They bring me many hours of pleasure as I talk to them and watch as they do whatever it is that deer do. Atlas, Molly, Not Molly, Bossie, John Jacob Astor, Spike, Jolene...these are just a few.

I'd Do It Again in a New York Minute, Part Deux

Here I am at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning...and I am WIDE awake. Oh, the life of an insomniac.

At any rate, now's as good a time as any to finish my blog about the trip Reflection took to Racine, Wisconsin. I must admit, when my husband, Don, got sick with the cold I passed on to him, and couldn't make the trip, I struggled with the reality I'd be making the trip without him. In all the years I've known him, we've only been separated three times: once when he went to a mens' retreat, once when I flew to Northern Virginia when my grandson, Marcus, was born, and the last time was for a business meeting I had in Dallas two summers ago. (A word to the wise: never, ever, ever plan a trip to the South in the dead of summer. You might just melt in the heat.)

On the way to Racine, I sat in the backseat of the vehicle I rode in and prayed for the couple who'd be stuck with me. I was very apprehensive about staying with people I didn't know because I present with a huge group of challenges all my own. With rheumatoid arthritis and interstitial lung disease anything can happen at any time and I was fearful I'd be a burden. But the minute I met them, all that abated.

John and Diana Wells, a lovely empty nest couple like us, were the perfect hosts. Diana shared with me that they'd never volunteered to host anyone before, but honestly, I was shocked! They definitely have the gift of hospitality. I have NEVER, in all the years I've traveled with singing groups and stayed in peoples' homes, felt so welcome and accepted.

Sunday morning, we arose early, before daylight, and drove to John and Diana's favorite local breakfast cafe. Every Sunday they eat breakfast there before going to church. I had a great time there. The minute we opened the door, I was flooded with bittersweet memories of my parents and their cafe, much like this one. But more than that, again, I felt welcome. It sort of reminded me of "Cheers" when Norm would come in and everyone would shout out his name. One of the elderly gentleman at one table asked Diana who her friend was. My heart was touched when Diana told him I was their friend from Colorado.  The man asked me "why in the world would you leave Colorado and come here?" I suppose I was seeing Racine from a visitor's eyes. It is beautiful there.

As we drove back to the Wells' lovely home, the sun was beginning its rise over Lake Michigan. I have never seen anything so breathtakingly beautiful. It took my breath away and I found it difficult to turn away. Pinks, purples, blues and grays filled the skies over the lake.

Later in the day we had lunch at the harbor and then I got a local's tour of the area. That night our group sang at their church, Calvary Memorial. One of the members of our group, John Friesma, grew up in that church and has many family members who still attend. John and Diana sat in the second pew and they beamed. I think Diana's sweet smile never left her lips.

When we left the following morning, I felt like I was leaving cherished friends; it was difficult to fathom that we'd known each other only a short 48 hours. Since then, I have plotted in my mind ways I can get them out to visit us in Colorado.

John and Diana, don't be a stranger. The porch light's on...just as yours was for me.

Until then, Godspeed, my friends.

I Would Do It Again in a New York Minute

As promised, I am here to fill you in on my recent trip to Racine, Wisconsin. A week ago today, Reflection, a group of singers from Woodland Park, Colorado, departed despite snowy roads and cold temperatures at 5 a.m. for the great state of Wisconsin. One of our members hails from Racine and was kind enough to set up some concerts for us.

I had never been to Wisconsin before and looked forward to the visit. We also drove through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois coming and going, depositing tolls to support their economies all along the way. One thing I was just a bit concerned about was whether I'd be able to find vegetarian options along the way. To my surprise, Nebraska was the easiest place for me to eat. I laughed about it because my husband had said, "Don't expect too much from Nebraska. Beef is a huge industry there and they'd laugh in your face if you told them you don't eat meat. Just order dessert. Thankfully, I was able to find more than a good piece of apple pie. In a truck stop in Hershey, NE, I found the best loaded baked potato EVER! And it was my birthday, so it was a double treat!

I wanted to share a little about one of the places we sang over the weekend. We were scheduled to sing in an assisted-living facility in Kenosha. The activities director, a lovely young woman named Heidi, was gifted in both patience and tact and took care of her residents with great precision and compassion. The residents were all in varying stages of dementia or Alzheimer's Disease and tended to wander about aimlessly, some telling and retelling stories to their Saturday evening visitors. One kind lady told us of being born in Racine, yet growing up in Germany during WWII. Once the war was over, she was allowed to return to the States as she was a US Citizen (Her parents were German). She had a thick accent and asked me repeatedly from where I hailed. And each time she learned I was from Colorado, she relived her earlier years of skiing the slopes of Aspen and Vail.

Another lady, wandered around looking for her purse. She grabbed our director's bag and off she went, followed in hot pursuit by Heidi.

Once our sound system was set up and the residents were calmed, we began our concert. I was singing lead in one of the songs when a little lady came in from behind and weaved in and out of the singers.  Diana, one of our sopranos, danced with her and kept her busy. She even took my microphone and told me it was her turn to sing. Only she didn't sing. She said in full voice, "HELLO". Then she walked away.

At the end of the concert, which Heidi seemed to enjoy despite her aerobic workout, we were given a package of gourmet cookies in thanks. But the pleasure was all ours. The residents were a joy to sing for and I'd do it again in a New York minute.

Next time, I'll write about my host family, John and Dianna Wells. They were like visiting long lost relatives and I can't wait to find a time to visit with them again.

Racine Here I Come

I like to blog on Fridays but tomorrow I will be traveling to Racine, Wisconsin. My husband and I sing with a group, "Reflection", and I, minus my wonderful husband, who has a HORRIBLE cold that I shared with him (sorry, hon) will be in a car beginning at 5 a.m. on my way to Racine.

By the looks of all the pictures I've seen, it is a beautiful place located on the shores of Lake Michigan. That alone was enough to get me on board. I will do anything (well, almost anything) to see a new place, even though long car trips are tough on my joints. Living with RA is the pits, but deal with it, right?!?!? And stop your whining....I can hear you through cyberspace telling me to get a grip!!! And I will...and do...everyday.

Hopefully, I will get lots of pictures. One I'm especially interested in is the lighthouse. Can't wait to see it. The picture attached is compliments of google....

Until next time, know that the book is one week away from being in the hands of the publisher. Yippee!

Meet John Archer

Meet John Archer. John, a character in "The Disappearance of Simon Archer", is the 16-year-old son of Simon and Susan Archer.

John is a rancher through and through. Though young, he knows without a doubt his life will be spent on the S&S Ranch tending to cattle, land, and the beautiful palominos his father fell in love with and brought to the ranch.

Simon, in the import and export business, travels several months of the year entrusting the care of his palominos to John and no one but John. He calls them his best girls.

About girls....John is not your typical teen-aged boy. Very recently he began to notice some of the girls in town. Sure, he thought them pretty enough, but they giggled and acted silly when he came around, so he sat down on the steps off the back porch and made a list. A very long list of things he'd not compromise on when it came to the perfect girl for him. When all was said and done, he perused the list one last time and came to one very obvious conclusion: this person wasn't just any girl. It was his mother!

"Aw shucks!" he moaned. One thing he knew for sure: he didn't have an Oedipus complex. He just thought his mom was about the best woman alive.


Too bad dad doesn't realize it,  he thought to himself. He'd watched as his father grew more distant from the family and from Susan. The rumors around town were that he'd taken a mistress. And not just any old mistress...she worked on Second Avenue....in a house of....well, you get the picture.

John was furious and had trouble dealing with his father's indiscretions. Sometimes he just wanted to punch Simon in the nose, but there were two things wrong with that. One, Simon was his dad, and, two, Simon was always gone. Even if he could muster up the nerve, the passion would be gone by the time Simon returned.  He'd just left on a trip that would take at least four months.

So how would John work through his difficulties with his dad? Will he remain angry or choose to forgive?

In a few short weeks, "The Disappearance of Simon Archer" will be released and you'll find out.

The Buck Stops Here

Animal Farm: that's the best way I can describe it. A couple of days ago, I was out in the front yard walking around when a couple of deer, a doe we lovingly call Bossy, because it's the best way to describe her, and her son, whose name has been changed from Buddy to Pushy Man.

It was the weirdest thing ever and happened like this: Bossy and "Buddy"  came trotting (yes, trotting, as if they had gone a whole day without seeing me and missed their old pal, Hazel) up the hill when they saw me come outdoors. I petted  Bossy on the head, then "Buddy". Satisfied, Bossy began to graze and I walked away headed to the side of the house to find a tool I needed for some yard work. Buddy followed behind. How sweet! He still liked his human friend. As I walked, he trotted  (they trot a lot) in front of me and stopped dead in his tracks, taking me by surprise.

Now, "Buddy" is a yearling, first RUT season of his short life, and a 2-point buck who is VERY proud of his new horns. 9I'm fairly certain he looks up to his father, Thor, and wants to be just like him when he grows up. Handsome, virile, rugged, a force to be reckoned with and a harem all his own.)  He and his brother, John Jacob Astor, can be seen periodically sparring in the back yard, which, I suppose, is their way of learning how to use those weapons to their advantage. And weapons they are!  But I digress.

So there we were just eyeballing each other, waiting to see who'd make the first move. When he didn't move, I took another step and he stomped at me. Hmmm....what to do...what to do! A dilemma for sure. A buck, with horns, who I've seen practically everyday of his short life, is suddenly being very weird with me.

I said, "What's up, Buddy?" (like he speaks English, you know) and stood there waiting for some sign that he was getting bored with all this. Only he wasn't. I took a deep breath and weighed my options. Here is an animal very familiar to me and I to him, but we've all heard horror stories about people who befriend animals in the wild only to have the animal turn on them. I decided to try once more. I took two steps and he jumped, yes jumped in front of me again, this time moving in even closer. HOLY MOSES! I felt trapped. So I turned slowly and started moving in the opposite direction and crept toward the steps to our front porch. They move quietly, so I wasn't certain if I was alone or had a horned stalker behind me. I stepped onto the brick walk and I heard hooves do the same. Yep...he was my uninvited escort. I turned around and he was about 2 inches from my backside and I put my hand out on his nose and said, "Buddy, that is enough."

I am not kidding when I say he looked like a wounded child. I don't know what he was up to but it could have been a number of things, the most obvious being the aggressive nature of a buck in the RUT season. All that testosterone and the only gals around were cousins, aunts and his mother. How frustrating, huh? Their need for mating outweighs any warm fuzzies they may have felt in the past and they become kind of mean and ugly.

Or it could be that he's been around me so long he now considers me a member of the herd. And sometimes they rough house. Or maybe he hates my cat who slaps him in the nose when he gets too close sometimes. Who knows? The only thing I know is that it was kind of creepy.

A couple of minutes went by and his mom, Bossy, played her mom card. She walked over to him and reared up and smacked him right in the snout with her front hooves and gave him a bloody nose. He tucked his tail between his long, skinny legs and high-tailed it out of here. She watched him go, then walked over to me as I sat on the steps, almost as if she sympathized with me. But more like she had just told her disrespectful son, "What's the matter with you, Buddy? I should knock you into the middle of next week."  So she did. 

Today Bossy came back but Buddy...I mean, PushyMan steered clear of the house on Obsidian Drive.

By the way, the buck in the photo? Pushy Man's dad. No wonder he has a bit of a complex. 

Opening Night at the Butte Theater

Being a writer of historical fiction, particularly surrounding the mining towns of Colorado, I take every opportunity to make the short drive to Cripple Creek and check out the latest and greatest melodramas at the Butte Theater.

Tonight was opening night for the fall season with an original melodrama written by Chris Sorenson, a veteran of Cripple Creek theater. The offering this season is called "Haunting at the Old Homestead" followed by a Halloween Olio.

My husband and I love to go to the melodrama whenever we have the opportunity and even though we know the players by face only, they have come to feel like family members who melt our hearts each time they light up the stage.

Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say the melodrama surrounds paranormal activities of the Old Homestead, a true-to-life brothal on Myers Avenue, the Red Light District of 1890s Cripple Creek. The building still stands today as a museum. The house and its notorious madam, Pearl DeVere are the fixtures upon which the story is built. Ghostbusting is the theme of this fun-filled evening at the Butte. Filled with music, chills, thrills, laughter, fun, mystery and surprises, I am happy to report HAUNTING at the OLD HOMESTEAD is the finest piece of work I have seen come out of the Butte Theater since....well, EVER.

The Olio was hysterically funny, so much so that when the three male actors, Mickey Burdick, Rob Scharlow and Chris Joel Onken came out dressed in creepy, monster drag (yes, that means female monster drag) singing their own special versions of a few pop songs about "creepy, evil, seductive women", I laughed till I couldn't catch my breath. Chris Onken was my personal favorite, stepping onto the stage looking like a bizarre, young Stevie Nicks with a twist of gender bender singing Witchy Woman. Honestly, I laughed so hard the tears were rolling down my face along with all my eye makeup, no doubt making me look like a "Witchy Woman" of a different sort. It's safe to say that everyone in the theater was laughing just as hard if not harder than I.  When the troupe sang "Monster Mash" I found myself singing the do-wops (something I did in an Elvis band years ago, but that's a story for another day).

I sum it all up by saying this: if you live in the Pikes Peak Region and haven't been to the Butte Theater you are missing a treat. Especially with this production. BEST EVER! Check out their website for more info at ButteTheater.com or on Facebook (search "The Butte Theater"). This particular melodrama started today, October 5 and ends November 4.

Seriously, folks, you don't want to miss this one! Where else can you go to the theater, enjoy a snack and a drink (even alcohol), have good fun in a safe environment for less than $17 a person plus the cost of snacks/drinks? Nowhere I know of with live entertainment. You'll leave feeling great, even uplifted.

Way to go, Butte Theater and The Thin Air Theatre Company.